I managed to sit down and watch the Queen: Live AT Wembley DVD which I received for Christmas whilst I started the post-move paperwork shuffle.
I won't say too much as most of it has been said over the years. Freddie Mercury was a great performer and entertainer. I consider him one of the best front-men in the business, and he had one of the greatest singing voices to go with it. His early death through AIDS was a great loss, and I still remember hearing the radio when it was announced on the news. At least his legacy as a musician, and in helping to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS lives on. He is ion many ways one of my heroes.
It is too easy to forget the rest of Queen. John Deacon and Roger Taylor are a good rhythm section. Brian May is a underrated guitarist, and in my opinion was the strongest song writer in the group. It was also unusual to have a band in which every member was a good enough singer that they could sing lead vocals if they wanted[*].
As an added bonus, I have finally ejected Nickleback from my head. I quite enjoy them, but it is my wife's favourite driving music and various snatches of their songs have been stuck in my head for about a fortnight. It is a relief to have Freddie and Brian going over 'Is this the world we created?' instead.
*Somebody please gag Phil Collins
26 February 2009
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I haven't seen the DVD, but i used to listen to the double-cassette (now, that dates me) back in the day. For me, Queen exist in the dark, nether reaches of my psyche, as a teenage pleasure i've never been quite able to exorcise... ;o) These days i tend to only listen to them when i'm in the deepest of deep depressions - they remind me of my lost youth.
You're right about Freddie Mercury's death being a horrible thing, but I also don't think there's any way they'd have recorded an album as good as Innuendo if he (and they) hadn't had the shadow of his death hanging over him (them). In fact, i think there's a fair-to-middling chance A Kind of Magic would have been their last album.
I have the double cassette as well; it used to get a lot of use back in the day.
Innuendo is a great album, and you are entirely correct about the circumstances of its recording. I also find it interesting that the production of the album is a lot rougher than the preceding releases, as if they wanted to get the music out there.
(In my geeky way, I also like the fact that the acoustic section of the title track is played by Steve Howe, long time guitarist of one of my other favourite groups, Yes.)
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